QCF: Life is Strange: Episode 5: Polarized

 guess that Ian Malcom, the Chaos Theorist of Jurassic Park said it best when he quipped at another character within the story, John Hammond, that Life, uhhhh, finds a way…

In the context of that story, this philosophy was used as a McGuffin to introduce tension. Tension that would lead the game through a series of events that steered the plot towards it’s tragic turn within the penultimate chapter of this harrowing youth drama.

The subtitle “Polarized” most certainly lives up to its name, this entry will test your emotional constitution more than any other interactive experience would ever dare to.

I’m not going to pull any punches here; the last episode walked a thin tight rope of taste when it came its depiction of disturbingly dark subject matter, so it was only a matter of time before the Finale would fail to discern the line between what’s enthralling, and what’s just plain disgusting.

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QCF: Until Dawn

t isn’t until the unfortunate passing of Wes Craven that it dawned on me the appreciation for the classic stylings and tropes of yesterday’s fright-fests and the terror-induced nightmares they dished out after spending a couple of hours of watching a bunch a hapless teenagers getting hacked to bits.

At some point, we’ve all exploded out of our seats in excitement back at the screen, so that we could root for the characters we wanted to live to live through the danger they were in, and in some of those instances, we lament over the poor choices that lead to their demise.

This sort of engagement often dissipated the empathy that was intended to connect with the viewer, and would instead lead to them boasting that the scenario would’ve played out much differently were they placed in that lethal predicament in lieu of the lovable idiot that bit the dust.

Well, while no one would ever really want to be wrapped up in that sort of hell, Supermassive Games gives us the next best thing with the exclusive title to hit the PlayStation 4.

Until Dawn proves that something as silly as keeping eight teenagers alive for a whole night can be one of the most intense commitments that you can ever hope to engage out of a video game yet.

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QCF: Life Is Strange: Episode 4: Dark Room

hen we last left off on Life is Strange, players were greeted with the best of intention going horribly awry, and how the consequence of changing one thing, lead to changing everything—Max copes with this and the Dark Room, and the end result will be sure to leave anyone who experiences it shaken.

While Episode 3’s Chaos Theory still stands as the magnum opus of the season, The Dark Room keeps up that momentum, and stands as the chef d'oeuvre to the finale of Life is Strange. All of the development to the cause and effect of Dontnod Entertainment’s choice-driven has a scale of influence in the predicaments that’s follow, and that fact that it brilliant builds from those experience that player’s have invested into the series so far, is what makes the impact of each outcome that’s reaped so provoking.

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QCF: Life Is Strange: Episode 3: Chaos Theory

t’s only Wednesday, and already, this week is turning out to be one of the of craziest happenings that you’ve ever lived. Following the aftermath of the life-changing event that the last episode ended with, Max Caulfield is stuck at the heart of the fallout caused from it, and is left with even more questions than answers about her control over the flow of time, but more importantly, she questions just who and what is more important to her as well.

Chaos Theory is the long awaited third entry of the running episodic game of Life is Strange, and while we’re still two more episodes away from the final conclusion of it all; it’s safe to say that this chapter could be the best episode of the series hands-down.

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QCF: Life Is Strange: Episode 2: Out of Time

he last time we saw Max Caldwell, she was coming to grips with confiding the truth about her time bending abilities to the closest friend that she has ever come to know, and the vulnerability on display is one of the central themes at work in Out of Time; the second episode to the saga of Life is Strange.

While a fate bigger than Max hangs over her head and that of Arcadia Bay, this follow-up installment seems to lose perspective on the stage that’s been set into motion, and the result is more baffling than it is effectual.

Without spoiling too much, Max is beginning to get more of a grasp on her situation, thanks to the comfort of sharing her unbelievable situation with Chloe Price; and much of the episode’s content focuses on where they go from there.

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QCF: Life is Strange: Episode 1: Chrysalis

eenage Adolescence is that weird phase that will most likely stick with us in life more than any other period of our existence, the one identity that everyone is most likely to blur in and out of in their adult life, for better, or for worse. Now imagine having the power to rewind back the flow of space and time to cater to your every whim and desire, or a chance to divert back the makings of a teenage crisis that you could never possibly stomach living down—that’s a promising proposition right?

Well, it’s never really ever that simple, and Dontnod Entertainment’s Life is Strange offers a unique twist on the foundation of choice-driven gameplay that emphasizes that one decision isn’t always easier than the other, and the result creates for engaging roller-coaster of discovery and tragedy.

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Oh My Darling Clementine-a TWDS2 retrospective series: All That Remains

014 has just been a busy year for game releases; it’s honestly been difficult to not just cover everything in games that’s happened this year—but to even cover all of the things that we wanted to cover on Press Pause Radio. Surprisingly, one of those very games was The Walking Dead Season 2. The perfect storm of circumstance and time constraints just pushed into a corner where we missed the train on properly reviewing for you guys and gals; so simply put, we decided not to.

I was able to catch up when the second episode released, but by that time, it just would have journalistically made sense from a practical standpoint to try and cram any catch up for critique by marathoning an impromptu “poop-sock” session of the game. It would have been a disservice to our follower base, so we ultimately decided to omit it; maybe cover it a different way instead when afforded the opportunity.

And Well…I just personally just reached the end of Season 2 of The Walking Dead, a play-through that carried on all of the choices of the previous seasons, and groomed for all of the emotionally strenuous decisions that I have make, and reflecting at the end of it, I can honestly say this.

I was truly unprepared for what I had signed up for when I took the responsibility of continuing Clementine’s story, and despite some reservations of some particular moments along the way, it all came full circle in the end, and manage to tear down any disappointment I may have had about the ride when it was all said and done. This will be the first of a five post series where I’ll be sharing my opinions on each individual episode in detail because there’s just too much to gloss over to just summarize the entire Season in one post—I hope the project will be as cathartic for you as it will be for me. Oh, and if wasn’t obvious already, this editorial series will spoil the shit out of some major plot details and events from the beginning to the very end of The Walking Dead: Season 2, so read with caution or come back when you’re done—take your time too, no rush.

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QCF: Papers, Please

oral choices in most games are easy. Save enough little sisters in Bioshock- you get the good ending, kill any and you're the worlds biggest monster. These choices are so ultimately binary that it's easy to even forget that they're questions of morality to begin with. Even when dealing with a complex issue, there's always a prompt telling you what kind of decision you made, regardless of your reasoning. "Yes and no" or "right and wrong" stick firmly into our heads to the point where we'll always know where our choices take us and what kind of end game they'll eventually lead us to.

However, Papers, Please doesn't play by those rules. In fact, it doesn't really play by any. There's no right or wrong here, only moral uncertainty and shades of horrific grays that lead to an experience which is devastatingly horrific, monotonous, and perplexing fun at the same time. Basically, it's one of the most interesting and creative video games you'll play all year.

Just don't expect to leave it feeling good about yourself.

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